The first aircraft autopilot was developed by Sperry Corporation in 1912.
Image result for the first autopilot
Aviator Wiley In the early 1920s, the Standard Oil tanker J.A. Moffett became the first ship to use an autopilot. but was sunk by an u-boat in 8 July 1942
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J.A.Moffett
The hardware of an autopilot varies from implementation to implementation, but is generally designed with redundancy and reliability as foremost considerations.
Modern autopilots use computer software to control the aircraft. The software reads the aircraft's current position, and then controls a flight control system to guide the aircraft. In such a system, besides classic flight controls, many autopilots incorporate thrust control capabilities that can control throttles to optimize the airspeed.
Boeing 747 autopilot
Here's a demonstration about one of many types of digital autopilot
autopilot
The first aircraft autopilot was developed by Sperry Corporation in 1912.
Aviator Wiley
In the early 1920s, the Standard Oil tanker J.A. Moffett became the first ship to use an autopilot. but was sunk by an u-boat in 8 July 1942
J.A.Moffett
The hardware of an autopilot varies from implementation to implementation, but is generally designed with redundancy and reliability as foremost considerations.
Modern autopilots use computer software to control the aircraft. The software reads the aircraft's current position, and then controls a flight control system to guide the aircraft. In such a system, besides classic flight controls, many autopilots incorporate thrust control capabilities that can control throttles to optimize the airspeed.
Boeing 747 autopilot
Here's a demonstration about one of many types of digital autopilot
http://www.slideshare.net/gbkallur/historyofautopilot
http://www.historynet.com/lawrence-sperry-autopilot-inventor-and-aviation-innovator.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/autopilot.htm